Gun Control: Base it on The Founders’ “Original Intent”

Most everyone is talking about the tragic Newtown Connecticut massacre of twenty first graders and six brave teachers by a young madman.

Given that the United Stares Supreme Court has interpreted the famously ambagious Second Amendment to the Constitution as allowing virtually every American to own a gun, what to do?

The court’s conservative majority philosophy is “original intent;” applying what they believed the actual writers of the Constitution literally meant when they penned the document. That contrasts to the liberal justices’ more flexible “living constitution” doctrine that interprets the founding document in accordance with modern life.

Given the majority view and the unlikelihood of its change anytime soon, gun control advocates should simply concede that any and all guns invented by 1776 are permitted.

That includes the muzzle loaded muskets and single action pistols that The Founders were familiar with.

Consistent with what The Founders actually understood, anything invented in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including revolvers, automatic weapons, Gatling guns and bazookas, should be prohibited.

2 Responses to Gun Control: Base it on The Founders’ “Original Intent”

All the conjecture about “original intent” and “living document” in my opinion misses the reason for the second amendment completely.

Our founders position on government must be understood in the context of their experience with the British Kingdom. It is preambled in the Declaration of Independence. The litany of grievances therein helps to contextualize the need for an armed citizenry.

Anyone who thinks a citizenry can put their faith and trust in government to honor and respect the concepts of Ordered Liberty, constitutional principles, and rule of law need only review the most
recents s lawless scamdals of the NSA, experience a TSA body search,